The service of sung Evensong is a hallmark of traditional Anglican worship, being heard in it’s most beautiful form in the choral versions offered in the cathedrals and college chapels of England. The psalms, the evening canticles Magnificat and Nunc dimittis, and well-known eventide hymns all combine to create a service of quiet contemplation, a perfect foil to the often chaotic events of daily life, and a fitting way to conclude one’s busy day.

A fine commentary on Evensong comes from the Rev. Michael Till, from 1970-1981 the Dean of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, England:

“If you are prepared to join in this turning towards God, you will find this is a Service in which you can join, though perhaps in ways that are unfamiliar. Here is a liturgical, architectural, and musical space into which, without fretting too much about the words, you may gather the preoccupations and anxieties of your own life and hold them together with a recollection of the god whose acts we celebrate. But many have found that once they have quietly offered the preoccupations which are chattering in their minds, they are free silently to go on to offer to God all that they are.”

Evensong services at Trinity Church combine hymns, congregational settings of the canticles, and organ music to give utterance to this most distinctive of Anglican liturgies, and our first Evensong will take place on Friday, 11 October, at 5:00 PM.

The music of the historic Anglican church, like the beliefs themselves, reflect the practices and traditions of a reformed catholic faith. Although the actual church was founded in 1534 by King Henry VIII, its music draws from European traditions of both pre- and post-reformation times, as well as having developed music for its own particular forms of worship. Hymns, music for choir, and works for organ form the heart of the Anglican musical identity.

At Trinity Church, congregational singing is the focus of our music, with the hymns, Mass settings, and canticles all being found in the Hymnal 1940. This book has long been acknowledged as the finest hymnal of the twentieth century, and all historical musical styles are well represented: Medieval plainchant, Reformation-era chorales and Psalm-tones, well-known Victorian hymns, and tunes from the early 1900’s are all found in this most versatile book. Numerous hymns are sung during Matins, Mass, and Evensong, as well as musical settings of the texts of the canticles and Mass Ordinary, all of which shows a high level of congregational participation in the service, something that the Reformers valued highly.

The organ music heard in the service occurs at the start (to set a mood of prayer and contemplation), the Offertory (for additional reflection following the sermon) and at the conclusion (to usher the congregation out into the world). These works are selected from the great heritage of music specifically written for the organ, and from the hands of such composers as Bach, Couperin, Mendelssohn, and many others. At Trinity, such pieces are often ones in which one of the hymn tunes used in worship can be heard as a solo melody, thus giving an additional “hearing” of the hymn in a new musical guise.

The music heard at Trinity Church illuminates the service in ways that are both gentle and reflective, as well as extrovert and proclamatory, living proof that the “beauty of holiness” can be found in a small neighborhood parish church as well as in a great cathedral.